Geothermal heat pumps do not create on-site emissions — in fact, they have the lowest emissions of all heating and cooling technologies, making them incredibly environmental. Not only that, but geothermal systems are also the most cost-effective space conditioning systems available, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The facts and statistics of geothermal systems are fascinating — these are just a selection of some of the key points about them.
Geothermal heat pumps have impressive impact on U.S. energy use. For every 100,000 homes with a geothermal heat pump system, foreign oil consumption is reduced by 2.15 million barrels each year. Additionally, electricity consumption is reduced by almost 800 million killowatt hours each year.
Using geothermal systems lowers the demand of electricity by nearly 1kW per ton of capacity.
Geothermal systems reduce energy consumption and emissions by more than 40% when compared to air source heat pumps. That figure nearly doubles, to 70%, when compared to electric resistance heating with standard air conditioning equipment.
Geothermal systems are popular. Polls show that almost 100% of all geothermal customers would recommend them to a family member or friend.
Schools that use geothermal systems have shown savings of more than $25 million in energy costs.
Homeowners also see significant savings by using geothermal systems — most homeowners save between 25%-50% on home electric bills compared to conventional heating and cooling systems.
The emission reductions that occur from the use of geothermal heat pumps in the U.S. are impressive. The following are just a handful of the impacts of using more than 1 million geothermal systems across the country
- More than 5.8 million metric tons of CO2 eliminated each year
- More than 1.6 million metric tons of carbon equivalent eliminated each year
- 1,000,000 installations have also resulted in the following energy consumption reductions.
- Savings of approximately 8 million kWh
- Savings of approximately 40 trillion BTUs of fossil fuels
- Decrease in electricity demand by more than 2.6 million kW.
- The impact of the current geothermal systems use in the U.S. are equivalent to taking almost 1.3 million cars off of the road, planting more than 385 million trees, and reducing our country’s reliance on imported fuels by 21.5 barrels each year.